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Charrette is not my name. It's a French design term meaning, in essence, "an intense meeting of the minds". And after all, isn't that what we do here? (Thanks for stopping by, and contributing your ideas. That makes being here all the more worthwhile.)

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Thursday, April 16, 2009

I Couldn't Possibly Be that Shallow!

A week or so ago I took this personality test as part of a family assessment we're doing. Supposedly it can determine your core motivation, which you are born with and never changes from childhood through adulthood. I dutifully followed the instructions and marked the little bubbles, even when none of them seemed to fit. Then I clicked the link for my results:

Congratulations. You are YELLOW.

YELLOWS are motivated by FUN. They are inviting and embrace life as a party that they're hosting. They love playful interaction and can be extremely sociable. They are highly persuasive and seek instant gratification. YELLOWS need to be adored and praised. While YELLOWS are carefree, they are sensitive and highly alert to others' agendas to control them. YELLOWS typically carry within themselves the gift of a good heart. (There's more, but that's the basic gist.)

Motivated by FUN? I couldn't possibly be that shallow. Or could I?I'm convinced the test is wrong. Because who and what I am is blue. Not only is blue my favorite color, and I yearn for the serenity it symbolizes...Blues are motivated by intimacy. And I CRAVE intimacy. Case in point, this blog. I write from the depths of my soul for you here, seeking a deep connection with like-minded others, fueled by the interaction and deep, meaningful conversations that ensue. This is who I am. I am Blue.

Or maybe I'm White. Because I avoid conflict and love my alone-time. (What mother doesn't?) And I refuse to be controlled by others. Yeah, I could be white.

Convinced there's been an error, or at least a technical glitch, I log back on under a different email address and password and take the test again. Confidently I click on the link and wait for my new results to appear:

Congratulations. You are YELLOW.(Stop laughing)

YELLOWS are motivated by FUN. They are inviting and embrace life as a party that they're hosting. They love playful interaction and can be extremely sociable.Yadda Yadda Yadda...

Hahahaha. I guess I am destined to be shamelessly, relentlessly, forever Yellow. Or maybe they rig the test so that EVERYONE who takes it is Yellow. Look, do me a favor. Click here, take the little personality profile and tell me if you're, well, Yellow. I need to know.

And in the meantime, I've come to grips with my new mistaken identity by recalling these defining Yellow moments:

I recently found a soulmate in Anne Shirley. I'm embarrassed to admit that I never read this book until I was an adult. The exuberant heroine of Anne of Green Gables, exulting in the beauties of nature to the point of practically swooning, (and describing them in words far too big for her scant 11-year-old frame), drinking in life with big, passionate gulps, is exactly how I was as a child--and still am, to a degree.

When I was at Cambridge, an older-and-sourer colleague, who'd obviously been dampened a bit more by life than I was, asked me one day, "How do you manage to exist in a constant state of bliss?" (I think she found it ever-so-slightly annoying). But I was reveling in the history, the architecture, the connectedness with great scholars, the mist on the moors, punting on the Cam, and immersing myself in Dickens and Austen and Hardy and Eliot. Plus I had a new boyfriend. And I was picking up a British accent. A good response might have been "How do you come here and NOT exist in a constant state of bliss?"

At my first REAL job (after college) one of the ad reps printed up note pads for everybody for Christmas. All the rest had their official titles printed under their names. But MINE? Said Editorial Art Director/Fun Specialist.

There is also this post (my very first) in which I was actually pulled over by a cop for my public display of...Yellowness?

And then, right after my husband asked me to marry him and I threw my arms around his neck with an unhesitating yes, he said these words: "We're going to have a fun eternity!"

So maybe it's true. I think I'm coming to grips with my Yellowness. Perhaps life hasn't beaten it out of me after all. What's more, maybe it's precisely my resilient Yellowness that actually keeps me buoyant when life is especially rough. But, just for the record, I still (joyfully) crave intimacy. So there.

"reds are motivated by Power. They seek productivity and need to look good to others. Simply stated, reds want their own way." I don't think so, really. I do seek productivity but I don't think I care that much about what people think. But this part is true: "They will, however, resist doing anything that doesn't interest them." So maybe there's something to it...

Yellow's not a bad thing to be. I'm sure my kids wish I were that instead. :)

I took this test before, and I took it again for you :-) and the result is still RED (61.87%) Yikes!"reds are motivated by Power. They seek productivity ...Simply stated, reds want their own way. They like to be in the driver's seat ...reds value whatever gets them ahead in life. What reds value, they get done. They are often workaholics..." I sound scary and mean don't I? :-) But fortunately I got lots of Yellows to dilute my redness :-) Plus I married a blue :-)

I took the test a handful of years ago and it came out blue with a good mix of red.

But I see you as a yellow in many ways. You are always happy around people. You are an artist and always looking for the joy in each possible situation. And you really are good at smiling when things are hard.

Whites are motivated by Peace. They seek independence and require kindness. They resist confrontation at all costs. To them, feeling good is more important than being good. They are typically quiet by nature, process things very deeply and objectively with great clarity. Of all the colors, whites are the best listeners. They respect people who are direct but recoil from perceived hostility or verbal battle.

Actually, I would have pegged you as a yellow (but with a ton of blue mixed in--Sort of a seafoam green variety)! I'm blue or white, depending on my mood or life space. I took it once and got a yellow, but that's rare. Mostly a nice sky blue.

Sorry, but that test is total crap. You are so not yellow! I had to quit at number 12, because I got tired of being forced to pick from four negative traits. I highly, highly recommend the Kiersey Temperament Sorter, which evaluates your here and now self and teaches you how you and your family members relate and why. It's worth buying the book. http://www.keirsey.com/

I was telling Justin about this, and how I was Blue. He said, "I was yellow last time I took it." When I said that his motivator was "fun" he was kind of sad. I let him know that you were yellow, and he said, "Oh, well, then I don't feel bad about being yellow."

It's good to be yellow!! It means you enjoy life and look for the good in things.

I took the test (I HATE those kinds of tests!!) and it told me I was Yellow, too (51%). That's weird because I took it when I was a kid (my mom bought the book in the late 80s early nineties) with my mom's input and was red and blue. I'll have to try it again some other time. . .

I'm yellow. I actually find that rather annoying. I mean, I KNOW that that's how other people see me, but it's really NOT how I see myself.

But the line in the description of yellow that made me say, "oh wow. Yeah. That's me" was this: "They are sensitive and highly alert to others' agendas to control them." Wow. See, I didn't know that that was a yellow trait, but it's ABSOLUTELY me. Which completely sums up EVERY conflict I ever had with my dear, wonderful, and yet extremely red mother!

I feel so validated knowing that you're also yellow. Yellow's cool, smart, creative, interesting, and so wonderful to be around. At least in you it is!

I'm still remembering the two of us sitting together on the stand in Primary. Poor (red, I presume) Elain, having to deal with us two disruptive, silly yellows!